Ease in Difficulty

Ease in Difficulty The classical Quranic commentators suggest that the Arabic َمَع (ma’a) that appears in this verse indicates ‘along with’. Thus, Ibn Kathir, in his commentary, says that through this verse, God tells us that ease is found along with difficulty. However, the Ulama of the modern period were so obsessed with the problems that they failed to understand this reality. Every disadvantage also brings along with it an advantage. This principle applied to Western culture and Western imperialism just as it did to other affairs. These developments struck the Muslim world as a major tragedy. However, at the same time and along with this, they possessed many favourable possibilities that the Muslims could have used. The most substantial such possibility was new and powerful opportunities to engage in conveying God’s message to people. These opportunities were hitherto unavailable. Had the Ulama understood this point and availed of these opportunities in the right way, they could have transformed the tragic modern history of the ummah into a very positive one. However, due to the particular mentality that they had developed, they failed to do so.